Trinidad and Tobago News Forum

Out of Evil comes Good

"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal."
1 Corinthians 13:1

For my globally sophisticated fellow national that are generally on point with regard to pressing eye catching, and social cutting edge issues , I am sure that many can have a sense of affinity with the West African state of Ghana, as it is about to welcome the first Afro American US president to it’s soil , in much the same way that our own country Trinidad and Tobago did some three months ago.
We fully recognize why Ghana got this honor and not , the East African homeland of his father Obama Snr. ,or the celebrities hideout South Africa, and even corrupt Muslim stronghold Nigeria , or any of the fledging democratic pretenders / good governance advocates that are repeatedly jostling for attention- and by extension financial handouts by this new administration . Is the subtle message to desperate , yet mismanaged African states by this new President they wonder , good governance , efforts aimed at democracy , and tolerance can be rewarded wheresoever it exist on the continent .
Many fellow nationals I am certain were beginning to get a bit wary at the actions of the President of the Moral Leader of the free world with his “change” theme , and “open fist” mantra ,that were forced fed to the gullible nation during his much touted campaigns . We saw Middle East and Afghanistan peace envoys rolled out , Michelle Obama butt slapping interchange with octogenarian European monarchs ,and dress up duels with former glamour models , and now other eye candy global First ladies , but no love for Africa outside of slap down for skinny insignificant upstart Somali pirate thugs .
Today, millions in the developing world along with my country , breath a sigh of relief to see the smiling President and his family create history as they touch down in Accra on the last leg of his G8 summit. They are ecstatic as they heard about the 15 billion dollar package agreement formulated by 19 partners of the richest nations on earth , which are geared to enhancing agriculture ,providing food security , and so hopefully alleviate some of the hunger and poverty that plagued the world unabated for decades.
Speaking of Kenya , I like thousand across the globe especially in my own country shares a common link with the President that I’ll like to publicly acclaim. It has to do the abandonment by useless fathers of their children. We both spend about the same amount of time with our fathers , which were almost no time whatsoever , because they were both too busy fathering numerous other kids .
This void , and sense of abandonment remained throughout our lives and most likely helped to shape our own attitudes towards kids . I can say with some conviction that I was a credible , caring ,and hopefully loving father .This I know can be corroborated from folks that knew me where ever I lived over the past two decades .I would hope that in the end my kids would share that view.
The President I believed helped develop closure in his case on his absentee father’s life , and perhaps exorcised his own demons some years ago when he eventually published a Best Selling memoir entitled ‘Dreams of My Father.’ Both fathers died very young in tragic fashions ,and with shattered dreams we later came to know. His father , at the age of 46 in an accident , and mine- I was told one month ago-at age 53 in a mental institution of my country , at the hands of several barbaric, overzealous ,security guards that beat him mercilessly to death during one of his numerous out of control maniacal psychotic rages.
The challenge therefore for me is to decide now on how I move forward in efforts to create my closure. Is it by first getting to the truth as told to me quite recently by a sister, or address the common problems of misunderstood mental illness , and neglectful fathers where past missteps and in-actions have produced devastating social impact on our societies, globally?
Perhaps out of evil can come some good, one would like to think. The question is do I have the willto do someting now, and am I doing it for me,as opposed to others, and does it matter what's the motivation? We'll see, as even Dr. Phil or one of our many local therapist that possibly diagnose my late father might agree that this is the first cathartic step. I wonder if any that pronunced him dead are still alive?

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